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Published Tuesday, January 31, 2012 in Local

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Runners prepare for a wet start of the 2011 Run for Angels in downtown Newnan. The 10th annual event, a benefit for Angel’s House children’s shelter, returns Saturday.

Run for Angels benefit for shelter Saturday

By Lindsay Wood

The Newnan Times-Herald

The 10th annual Run for Angels 5K/ 10K road race and Chicken-Q benefitting Angel's House, an emergency safe haven for foster children of Coweta County, is this Saturday at 8:30 a.m.

On-site registration and check-in for registered runners will begin at 7 a.m. The one-mile family run will begin at 8:15. Registration fees are $20 for runners 12 and under and $30 for adults. Packets may be picked up at First United Methodist Church, Greenville Street in downtown Newnan Friday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and the morning of the run Saturday.

The race course begins on Greenville Street between Salbide Avenue and Savannah Street and finishes on Salbide Avenue, adjacent to the First United Methodist Church.

Tickets for the Chicken-Q are $9 and on sale at all of Newnan's downtown-located churches and Scott's Bookstore. Huckleberry's BBQ of Pine Mountain will be catering the event. Each plate will consist of barbecue chicken, potato salad, cole slaw and a homemade desert. The drive-thru line for plates will open at 10:30 a.m. on the LaGrange Street side of First United Methodist Church. Plate service at the Parish Hall will begin at 11 a.m.

"We hope for good weather this year," Bambi Edge, Run for Angels chair, said. "It really is a great community event and it's so heartwarming to see the families have fun."

Sixty-seven sponsors have contributed to the run this year -- a record for the Run for Angels. "We especially appreciate our title sponsors -- ValuTeachers and the Kiwanis Club of Newnan," Edge said.

New for this year will be chip timing, a system that collects race time data from a small chip placed on a runner's bib or shoelace. Chip timing speeds up the awards process by processing race results electronically. Run for Angels also serves as a qualifier for the Peachtree Road Race which will be held July 4 in Atlanta.

The logo is new this year, too. It now features the historic 1904 Courthouse, drawn by local artist Chandler Brandenburg, in the background.

"Every year we try to make it a little bigger and a little better," LouAnne Connell, finance director and treasurer for Angel's House, said.

Angel's House got its start in October 2000 when many foster children finding themselves removed from their home situations were forced to stay overnight at Coweta's Department of Family and Children's Services office until housing placement could be arranged. Seeing a need for help, the community developed the Newnan-Coweta Children's Shelter Board to raise money for a permanent children's shelter.

Country music star and Newnan famous son Alan Jackson held a special concert and raffle for the charity and helped raise hundreds of thousands of the $1 million needed to construct the shelter. The board gave Jackson and his wife Denise the honor of choosing the name for the shelter. They chose Angel's House because it was the couple's wish that the children be surrounded by "heavenly and earthly angels."

To date, Angel's House has provided for 155 children with 85 percent coming from Coweta County. The organization's annual budget exceeds $250,000. Angel's House is sustained by state stipends, donations and its sole fundraising efforts: the annual Run for Angels and the Chicken-Q.

More than $272,000 has been raised by the Run for Angels and Chicken-Q event since its inception in 2003. Last year, 1,375 Chicken-Q plates were served.

"We so appreciate the community support for Angel's House," Edge said. "It has not wavered over the years. It's all for a great cause -- to provide a safe place for neglected and abused children."

To volunteer for the event, contact Bambi Edge at 770-253-7758. Donations may be sent to Newnan-Coweta Angel's House at P.O. Box 657 Newnan, GA 30264.

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